I am having some seriously long (for me) cycles; I'm normally a 28 day gal. My first was 38 days, my next was 50 long days and this past one was 34 days. I am pretty sure I ovulated this cycle as I had the tell-tale signs of pain in my sides, ewcm and just a plain ole desire for my hub, kwim? But I think we missed my window so I didn't conceive this month.

Which... ya know... we're trying but not trying... kinda like Esther and her hub. SO... here's my ?. I want to start temping... do I start in the morning, on my first day of my per? Or do I wait until it's over and start temping? I bought a basal body therm. and it actually came with a few free charts! Neato! :)

I sure am enjoying learning more about NFP and my cycles! It's all so fascinating! Thanks for the help, in advance! ;)

I start the first day after af is gone. Make sure it is after at least 3 consecutive hours of sleep and it should be taken at the same time each morning. Before you get out of bed for any reason take your temp. Now to be honest, I didn't always do that. but my body temp does not change quickly. My heart is slow to increase in speed, therefore my temp was not affected. But you can test it out for yourself. take temp before getting out of bed, go to the bathroom, and then get in bed and take temp again to see if there was much of a change.
anyhow. Have you had any added stress or things going on?
besides having, what 5 kids? or is it 4? sorry.
I think I o'd late this past cycle because of stress. I was planning our v-day banquet and i think that delayed me.
The more info you chart the more you have to look back on and get a better understanding of your body.

No, not too much extra stress abounding here~ ;) I don't consider the five kiddos a stress either... they are some really good kids~ :) The only stress I can even begin to think of is hub is going to be undergoing some changes at work... that's about it. ::shrugs:: Thanks for the info, Esther!

I would say, that more likely than not, frequent nursing and possible multiple attempts to ovulate, and then possible annovulation is what is making your cycles long. Just an educated guess, though. Do you have a chart to share?

You see, what often happens, is that your body sends mixed signals. Your hormonal system says, "Let's ovulate," and your frequent nursing raises your prolactin levels and says, "Let's suppress ovulation." Eventually either you ovulate or your body gives up after repeated attempts and has a withdrawl bleed. (Not a true AF, because technically a true AF is preceded by ovulation)

I would definitely start temping on the first day of your next period, so that you have a complete picture of a full cycle. Strive for as much consistency as you can, but don't worry if your time is 1/2 hour later one day or if you're still night nursing Eliya. As long as you don't move around a lot before taking it, a little variation shouldn't hurt you. I got pretty clear temp patterns and later, thermal shifts, even with a toddler not fully STTN.

Also, if you haven't done so, would you consider signing up for a Fertility Friend account and posting your chart online? I'm kind of a chart geek and when you ask these cycle questions, I like to be able to see a visual picture.

Good luck!

You see, what often happens, is that your body sends mixed signals. Your hormonal system says, "Let's ovulate," and your frequent nursing raises your prolactin levels and says, "Let's suppress ovulation." Eventually either you ovulate or your body gives up after repeated attempts and has a withdrawl bleed. (Not a true AF, because technically a true AF is preceded by ovulation)

Good luck!

Okay, Ruth, how in the world do you know all this stuff? What's your education background? I'm in awe, gal! :D Did you just do all this reading on your own or were you working on some kind of degree?? Either way, I think yer awesome~ ;) I didn't know about the above, that's *QUITE* interesting!

I do have a fertility friend account and a vague chart, but no temping yet and it isn't entirely accurate, as I hadn't posted EWCM days and such... so I don't know how much help it would really be to look at it... ::shrugs::

My mom and I were talking about charting and I learned a lot about her that I didn't know... she had trouble conceiving at first (*that* I knew) but she started keeping track of her temp and charting! I had no idea! So she and I got to talk about NFP together, that was awesome!

She told me that with all four of us (me and three sibs) it was a full year of no pregnancy due to nursing and then around the time that the baby was 13 months she got pregnant with the next one of us (except me being born four years after my third sibling... I was a surprise!)

Anywho... so my assumption is that I'll be the same... not being fertile until the babe is a year or more. Which is totally fine... I'm mainly interested in all the charting for my own educational purposes, handing that down to my girls, and using it for NFP purposes as well. I still need to download that free course on FF!

I sure enjoy sharing all this stuff with you all and learning how different our bodies and cycles are as women! Neato! :)

Okay, Ruth, how in the world do you know all this stuff? What's your education background? I'm in awe, gal! :D Did you just do all this reading on your own or were you working on some kind of degree??

I took an NFP class from Couple to Couple League International (http://www.ccli.org) and have used several books on NFP as references.